Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Earlier this month, determined Mae-mavens pursued a vintage MAE WEST promo — — and bid it up well beyond the original estimate. Outstripping the guessers, well! Here are the auction results. • • According to the helpful folks at Urban Art and Antiques: One of the great surprises of the auction [that took place in late March 2010] came in the form of a Paramount 1933 Style A one sheet for the pre-Code classic "She Done Him Wrong," one of Mae West’s most famous films, based on a play the famous vamp wrote herself. Mae West’s performance as Lady Lou remains, to this day, a virtuoso accomplishment of wit and innuendo that garnered the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, as well as devotion from fans more than 75 years after its release. The poster, which came into the auction with a $7,000 estimate, rapidly outpaced that prediction and, with several determined bidders, rose to nearly three times that amount to finally find a new home at $19,120.• • Grey Smith, Director of Movie Posters at Heritage Auctions, had a lot to be happy about.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

One man formed a secret boudoir bond with MAE WEST, a trophy encounter he treasured but did not publicize for several decades. Here are the juicy details about a Chesty Bond original.• • The origins of "Chesty Bond" • •• • Chesty Bond is a long-lived fictional cartoon character and trademark for the Australian clothing company Bonds. Originally created in 1938 as part of a merchandising campaign to sell men's underwear (and the singlet — — a type of vest — — in particular), Chesty Bond is recognized by many Australians as a popular national icon.• • In 1938, the teenager who posed for the original drawing was Max Whitehead [2 August 1922 — March 2010]. As a pro wrestler, fighting under the name “Max Steyne,” Whitehead traveled the world, and reportedly only lost to the famous Killer Kowalski.• • By 1940, a Chesty Bond cartoon — — drawn by cartoonist Syd Miller — — was being featured three times each week in Sydney's Sun newspaper, eventually running for 20 years. Chesty, with his characteristically powerful jutting jaw and impressive physique, became a superhero when he pulled on his trusty Chesty Bond Athletic vest. As a result of the successful campaign, Chesty Bond became the archetypal Australian hero synonymous with Australian masculinity and an icon recognized Australia wide.• • According to The Australian: As mourners gather today to remember Max Whitehead, who died last week at the age of 87, there will be much reflection on his rich life and his incredibly varied CV.• • The Australian writes: "Not only was Max Whitehead the original Chesty Bond model, he was also the first captain of the Manly Sea Eagles and even had a long stint traveling the world as a professional wrestler. But journalist Steve Warnock, who interviewed Max Whitehead in the late 1980s, says there was another achievement Whitehead quietly claimed to have notched up: bedding — — or indeed, being bedded by — — Mae West. "He told me he'd kill me if I let on about it while he was still alive," Warnock told Strewth yesterday. Max Whitehead was in his early thirties at the time and his wrestling partner happened to be Mae West's lover; West was by then in her 60s, aging extremely well and entertaining a predilection for musclemen. When the wrestling partner had to go away for a week, he asked Whitehead to look after West. "Max wasn't bullshitting me," Warnock says. "He told me he turned up at the mansion with a toothbrush and a towel, was welcomed by a butler ('Mr Whitehead, I presume?') and shown to the bedroom, which he left a week later a bit the worse for wear." It would go some way toward explaining why Chesty Bond looked so pleased.— — Source: — —• • Article: "A Chesty Bond"• • Byline: James Jeffrey• • Published in: The Australian — — www.theaustralian.com.au/• • Published on: 31 March 2010• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Monday, March 29, 2010

It was on 29 March 1936 that a rather curious article appeared about MAE WEST.• • Written by a journalist named Frank Daniel, his cover story was called "Has Mae West Done Herself Wrong?" The piece was published in the Atlanta Journal Magazine. • • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

In March 1927, in reaction to the Broadway aspirations of MAE WEST's play "The Drag," the New York State Legislature passed a law banning all depictions of homosexuality on the stage.• • After the Grand Jury's indictments were finished, the courtroom trial began in earnest on 28 March 1927. First on the agenda was jury selection.• • A few days later, Norman Schloss would open the case for the defense, pointing out the most obvious details: that "Sex" had already run for 339 performances, and it had been seen by more than 325,000 patrons, including members of the police department and their wives, by judges of the criminal courts, by seven members of the district attorneys’ staffs, and by citizens of the city who showed no moral impairment. A Broadway “play jury” had previewed the show, and belated prosecution was unreasonable.• • The prosecutor would argue that the play "Sex" was obscene and he would be calling a series of detectives who became courtroom actors.• • Sergeant Patrick Keneally of the Midtown Vice Squad seemed to relish reciting the more ribald lines from "The Drag," and imitating the walk and gestures of "the fairies" on stage.• • The full-length stage play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes the trial and other matters leading up to it — — and, of course, the colorful aftermath.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

"I've been in more laps than a napkin," said MAE WEST. To sit in the same lap of vehicle luxury as Mae did will be possible if you spend this weekend in Florida.• • According to South Florida Business Journal, a serious automobile auction will be conducted by RM Auctions from Friday to Sunday [March 26th — 28th]. From a “Mod Squad” convertible to a 1938 Cadillac once said to be owned by actress Mae West, more than 400 classic cars are up for auction this weekend at the Greater Fort Lauderdale /Broward County Convention Center. This event will also include a sporty Jaguar owned by Frank Sinatra and feature 130 cars from the estate of American collector John O’Quinn, whose collection included over 1,000 well-maintained classic cars.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Friday, March 26, 2010

His appreciation of MAE WEST was well-known. They enjoyed a mutual admiration until Mae began to suspect he was copying her.• • Born in Columbus, Mississippi in the month of March — — on 26 March 1911 — — Tennessee Williams included a chalkware statuette of the screen legend in "A Streetcar Named Desire."• • Excerpt from a letter in Spring 1943 • •• • • • Dear Don:• • • • I am just getting settled, it is sunset of my third day here which seems like the third month at least. I have taken a little 2-room apt. in Santa Monica, nothing at all grand, in fact a very honky-tonk air about it with stained wallpaper and a plaster model of Mae West on the dresser and very gaudy curtains. ...• • • • Tennessee Williams, Letter to Donald Windham, 12 May 1943.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

In a recent interview, indie "It girl" actress Chloë Sevigny [born 18 November 1974] expressed her admiration of MAE WEST.• • According to a one-on-one with The A.V. Club, the five-foot-eight blonde has had a hankering to step into the bad girl shoes.• • AVC, Sean O'Neal: A lot of your characters have a very subtle sexuality — — but this one ["Barry Munday"] is really out there; you even do a striptease at one point. Was that unusual for you?• • Chloë Sevigny: No, I kind of like that stuff. I am a Scorpio, and playing the seductress appeals to me. There are a lot of women throughout film history, like Mae West or Marlene Dietrich — — those are the women I was always attracted to. The bad girls. I felt like this character was a little bit of a bad girl. ...• • Wonder how the 35-year-old East Coaster would be in the leading role of "Courting Mae West"? Can you see it, dear readers?• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Memories of mammaries and the glory days of MAE WEST are being invoked as people prepare for "The Big Reveal," Jim Thorpe’s First Annual Burlesque Festival this weekend.• • 2-Day Benefit for Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA • •• • According to an article in The Weekender, The Mauch Chunk Opera House, where the main event will be located, is one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters. Opened in 1881, the opera house was a regular stop on the vaudeville circuit and has hosted legendary performers such as Mae West, Al Jolsen, W.C. Fields, and others.• • Kenny Luck writes: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, burlesque evolved as a working-class alternative to upper-class entertainment. Its popularity was fueled by exposing Victorian-era sexual taboos. However, the good times would not last. By the early 1930s, Burlesque began to fade in the collective consciousness as new forms of entertainment — and sexuality — emerged. Burlesque morphed into the striptease, while the more interesting artistic and creative aspects of the show disappeared.• • Kenny Luck adds: However, by the mid-1990s a neo-burlesque revival was beginning to blossom with a new generation of performers such as Dita Von Teese leading the way. A major motion picture entitled “Burlesque” starring Cher and Christine Aguilera, is set to debut in November. ...• • For details about the fundraiser taking place in Pennsylvania on March 26th — 27th, see the publication below.— — Excerpt: — —• • Article: "The best of burlesque"• • Byline: Kenny Luck• • Published in: The Weekender (Wilkes-Barre, PA) — — www.theweekender.com• • Published on: 23 March 2010• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

It was the 23rd of March 1924 and MAE WEST was deep in the heart of a Texan.• • It's also true that she was 30 years old and watching her star-dusted dreams slowly dimming. When she did snag a booking, it was on a low-level variety circuit. Though a few years before she had negotiated an appearance fee of $500, in 1924 she was accepting gigs for only $125 a week. During this frustrating interval, she was hiring and firing her accompanists.• • Imagine Mae's prickly state of mind as she trouped during the month of March in 1924 through the southwest, where she had accepted a four-week contract to perform on the Interstate Vaudeville Circuit. Covering Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, this was one of variety's least desirable routes and a far cry from Broadway.• • In Houston, Texas, the Brooklyn bombshell turned the head of a publicity flack for a nearby playhouse.• • Eventually, the Associated Press discovered a marriage license [dated 22 March 1924] obtained — — but never used — — by Mae West and a local theatre press agent named R.A. "Bud" Burmeister.• • Despite the fact that a marriage did not take place in Texas, on 24 April 1935 newspapers like The Berkeley Daily Gazette were announcing Mae had indeed tied the knot with Bud eleven years before. Yikes! And in 1935 it was discovered that a bald, skinny former vaudeville hoofer named Frank Wallace was legally still married to the movie queen.• • What really happened in 1924? Was it a touch of Cupid or career capitulation that made Mae entertain the idea of settling down? Maybe Mae was overcome by the heat of hormones — — or did she have a pregnancy scare? And how long could she have known Mr. R.A. "Bud" Burmeister, a 34-year-old resident of Harris County, Texas anyway? Hmmmmmm.• • Marching down the Playhouse Aisle in late March 1924 • • • • Before any orange blossoms were ordered for the bride, Mae took off (as scheduled) on March 23rd for San Antonio, where she played through March 24th.• • Perhaps this was the time when Mae registered at the famous Menger Hotel. Located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, this landmark was built in 1859 (23 years after the fall of the adjacent Alamo) by William Menger, a German immigrant. In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt had used the bar to recruit Rough Riders which fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War.• • The Menger was San Antonio's most popular hotel in the 19th Century. Mae West along with O. Henry, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde, and others were known to frequent the bar and hotel, which was periodically enlarged and remodelled to accommodate more guests. The Menger Hotel is located here: 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205.• • After such a rough ride with romance, Mae headed for the footlights in a Fort Worth theatre, and then saddled up for an engagement in Detroit before returning to the East Coast — — and a long hitch of unemployment.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Monday, March 22, 2010

While we're on the subject of another little record-breaker you may not have realized about MAE WEST, there's this story of O.• • Best Picture and Oscar • •• • According to cinemaphile Leonard Hayhurst, who pens the column "Ask 411 Movies": "Gone with the Wind" is the longest movie to win best picture at 3 hours and 54 minutes. The shortest is "Marty" at 1 hour and 31 minutes. The shortest ever Best Pic nominee is the Mae West vehicle "She Done Him Wrong" at 66 minutes — — and the longest nominee is "Cleopatra" at 4 hours and 2 minutes.• • "She Done Him Wrong" should have won the golden statuette!• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

MAE WEST 's approach to glamour was discussed by a British columnist focused on matters of style versus substance.• • "Nothing empowers women more than a good education and career, but since cinema began they have been unable to resist copying the fashions that give models and Hollywood stars allure," writes Carol Dyhouse.• • Carol Dyhouse adds: It is tempting to ask whether glamour, once an escape for women, has now become a prison? But adult women aren't simply prisoners, dupes or victims, and there can be a playfulness around glamour, exemplified by many women performers, for instance: Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Madonna, Courtney Love, and currently, the gloriously bonkers Lady Gaga. As soon as you think or write about glamour you enter dangerous territory. ...• • To access this thought-provoking read, see the publication below.— — Excerpt: — —• • Article: "Glamour versus feminism? Just look at the images in the media we all adore!"• • Byline: Carol Dyhouse• • Published in: The Observer [UK] — — www.guardian.co.uk• • Published on: Sunday, 21 March 2010• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

MAE WEST 's quotes and comments about her personal life can turn up in the oddest articles. But this column, with its odd lead-in to Mae West, is more peculiar than most.• • Book Reviewer Illtyd Harrington writes: MAE West, the high priestess of the subject, wrote a play a long time ago called Sex. The city fathers were outraged, banned it, and threw Miss West into the nearest jailhouse.• • The writer, philosopher and politician Arthur Koestler kept a diary listing 200 to 300 women whom he had taken to bed. At one time he was conducting five contemporaneous affairs — — only three were within matrimony.• • But unlike Miss West he went to jail and was sentenced to death for his political activities. Koestler was a sado­masochist in his sexual life.• • This short, sturdy man was born on September 5, 1905, into a prosperous Jewish family in Budapest. He died as part of a suicide pact with his obedient wife, Cynthia, on March 1, 1983, in . . . .— — Excerpt: — —• • Book Review by ILLTYD HARRINGTON• • Published in: Camden New Journal — — www.camdennewjournal.com/• • Published on: 18 March 2010• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Friday, March 19, 2010

It was 19 March 1934 and MAE WEST was beginning production work on her fourth feature for Paramount Pictures: "Belle of the Nineties." After an ongoing battle with the censors that would soon get hairier and scarier, this "Naughty 90s-theme" motion picture was wrestled from the Paramount wringer on September 21st looking and sounding very different from its original model — — Mae's Broadway drama "The Constant Sinner" set in Harlem where 18-year-old Babe Gordon is a "prizefighter's tart" during the 1920s. • • Mae West was beset with other concerns, too, during the unpredictable month of March. Quarrels with her manager Jim Timony resulted in his moving out of the Ravenswood and bedding down in a modest home behind the Hollytown Theatre, where he resumed his old involvement in stage plays.• • Meanwhile, "Battling Jack" West left his Florida flat and showed up in Los Angeles. Unwilling to have her father interfere with her private life, Mae had him moved to her San Fernando Valley Ranch. Nevertheless, she had the studio put him on the payroll to lend his expertise to staging the Tiger Kid scenes. A Paramount press release alerted the media that their boxing consultant was a former prizefighter — — a "stocky, well-built man, bearing none of the usual physiological mementos of the ring."• • Adding to the tense atmosphere was Joe Breen's determination to make an honest woman out of Mae's character Ruby Carter.• • Reflecting on this sudden upsurge of family values in 1934, The New York Times wrote: Back in the days when "Belle of the Nineties" — — alias "Belle of New Orleans" and "It Ain't No Sin" — — was locked in a death grip with the local censorship board, one of the major points of dissension was the shocking fade-out in which Miss West won her man without the assistance of a justice of the peace. In the new and approved version there is a wedding ceremony and Miss West is now safe for her large following to visit. ..."• • Retracing Mae's stressful journey in 1934 will bring us to Arthur Mayer, that sprite inside Paramount's publicity office, and his idea about training several dozen African parrots to promote the film. Toucan, anyone?• • Mae West perhaps kept another March 19th in mind as she began her motion picture work on the Paramount lot. It was on 19 March 1927 that her manager Jim Timony announced to the news that "Mae West is exhausted" and her Broadway show "Sex" would now close.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

"There's nothing better in life than diamonds," MAE WEST told interviewer Charlotte Chandler. Another time, the actress remarked, "No gold-digging for me. I take diamonds! We may be off the gold standard someday." Of course, the well-known line from "Diamond Lil" is this sassy smacker: "Diamonds is my career." The star owned an abundance of what she described as her "daytime diamonds" — — and was photographed at premieres and galas lavishly bejeweled in top-shelf sparklers.• • In the novel and the stage play Mae wrote, incarcerated Chick Clark bemoans his prison sentence, blaming Lil's unrelenting desire for diamonds on his criminal escapades. And while Chick stews in the big house, he's aware that Lil is free in New York City and flashing her diamonds daily as she sashays through Gus Jordan's Bowery saloon.• • To see some of these at The Field Museum in Chicago — — featured in their exhibition "The Nature of Diamonds" — — you have until 28 March 2010 only.• • Individual standouts on display include the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond — — one of the world's largest yellow diamonds — — and the Incomparable Diamond, which weighs 407.48 carats. In addition to decorative pieces owned by Mae West, visitors can also see gems treasured by celebrities such as Sir Elton John and Joan Crawford.• • Their holdings include the permanent exhibit known as the Grainger Hall of Gems, which features rare jewels and gold objects from around the globe.• • The text written by curators helpfully explains that "Diamonds are the hardest natural substance known. The key to a diamond’s strength is in its crystal structure. A diamond’s carbon atoms link to one another in a rigid, box-like shape, forming the strongest known chemical bond. It’s this bond that gives diamond its hardness — its ability to resist scratching. The only substance that can scratch a diamond is another diamond."• • The curators have emphasized the specialness of this coveted brilliant: "Diamonds are the most brilliant colorless stone. A diamond’s intense brilliance is due to its density (the amount of atoms packed into it), which slows light and reflects it back towards the viewer. Diamonds reflect light better than any other colorless substance."• • WHERE: The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496; Tel 312-922-9410.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Hollywood was the theme, California coeds won the benefits, and MAE WEST presided over this jolly luncheon — — smiling at tablemates Hedda and Louella.• • Tinseltown, the land of supreme fakery, inspired a local group of PEN Women, who organized a fundraiser full of vintage Hollywood fun in order to rake in enough funds to provide scholarships for female college students in the arts.• • According to the Saratoga Sampler written by Mary Ann Cook for Saratoga News [on 15 March 2010]: The room was rife with impersonations. Carol Greene played Carole Burnett, with a puppet helper; Edie Matthews took on Mae West; Audry Lynch played Hedda Hopper, regal in fur coat and sunglasses. Mary Lou Taylor read a poem from her book, On the Fringes of Hollywood. Louise Webb was decked out as Louella Parsons in fur coat and hat. ...• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

During the first two weeks in March 1927, MAE WEST was starring in the courtroom on Sixth Avenue by day — — and starring in her stage play on Broadway every evening.• • On 15 February 1927, Mae West's obscenity trial officially began.• • Police inspector James Bolan was called as a witness for the prosecution in West Side Special Sessions Court. "He produced a sheaf of yellow paper, adjusted his eyeglasses and read in a solemn tone that suggested a church service," went one newspaper account of the courtroom's activities published on 16 February 1927. "The inspector's lean, grave face ministered to the effect."• • At the beginning of her trial, Mae West was still shuttling back and forth from Jefferson Market Court on Sixth Avenue in the daytime to Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in the evening to perform onstage in "Sex" — — eight times a week — — as usual. But there was nothing "usual" about this.• • "Playing the publicity angle for all it was worth, the producers and the cast of 'Sex' applied for, and were granted, a jury trial instead of a trial before three judges in Special Session," wrote Emily Wortis Leider in Becoming Mae West. "In early March (1927) the grand jury returned an indictment against the management and part of the cast. Mae West and the other indicted cast members entered their plea: Not guilty."• • Mae West's popularity was undiminished by the trial. During the same week as the police raid, the junior promenade committee of the Washington Square College of New York University invited the actress to attend their prom. The coeds did stop short of bestowing the title "Prom Girl" on the Brooklyn bombshell — — an honor accorded each year to only one girl among all those present — — insisted the student administration.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in court on 3 March 1927 • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Enjoy two classic comedies starring MAE WEST — — next month in Indiana.• • During the Classic Film Series 2010, free screenings will be presented monthly in Central Library in Evansville, Indiana.• • This popular vintage series, presented by the library and the Tri-State Cinema Society, features digital, large-screen presentations on the third Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM.• • Early arrivals are treated to popcorn. Each screening is followed by an informal discussion led by representatives from the Tri-State Cinema Society.• • This year's program will feature movies ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s and it begins this Thursday with "Waterloo Bridge" [1940], starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor.• • On 15 April 2010 come up and see Mae • •• • On 15 April 2010, there will be a rare double feature of two exciting Mae West Pre-Code classics: "Night After Night" [1932] and "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].• • All of these intimate Indiana library screenings are free and open to the public.• • Details: contact Matt Rowe T. 812-428-8200 x 1545.• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Take tea with MAE WEST — — and see a tastier side of life perhaps? British journalist Caroline Boucher waited in Mae's living room and wondered about the etiquette of making eye contact, especially when surrounded by so many nude statuettes of her blonde hostess. Where would you look? Never mind. This is what she wrote.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • My tea with Mae West by Caroline Boucher • • • •• • It's tricky to interview a Hollywood star when you're surrounded by nude sculptures of her.• • Her teatime outfit might have been formal, but Mae West's conversation was anything but. Within minutes of my arriving at her Hollywood penthouse one afternoon in 1974, she was lugging her exercise bicycle out of the dining room to prove her daily fitness routine: never mind that she was 83 and the bicycle was covered in a thick film of dust.• • But she did look amazing. Fitted pink trouser suit, teetering platform heels, towering platinum-blonde hairpiece and false eyelashes that could have inflicted paper cuts. She'd swept through the double doors of her drawing room after being announced by her live-in lover at the time, Paul Novak — — a former Mr California 30 years her junior.• • "I have an extra thyroid gland," she announced airily. "It gives me twice the energy and twice, the, you know, everything else I guess."• • I studied a nude portrait and several nude sculptures of Ms West while I digested this information.• • Tea came in a silver service on a tray and was served by Novak: English tea and shop-bought shortbread, which I hogged much more of than she did. Although West was known for her curves, I got the impression she wasn't much interested in food, and certainly not in cooking it, although she talked at length about the benefits of putting coconut oil on her face.• • When it was time to go I signed her visitors' book, which seemed all the wrong way round. Her parting shot was to give a thumbs-up to the women's movement — — "I'm a liberated woman, I did everything I wanted. And I never wanted children. They'd have taken my mind off myself."• • We shook hands and I staggered off. Dazed.— — Source: — —• • Article: "My tea with Mae West"• • BY: Caroline Boucher | Food & Drink Columnist• • Published by: The Observer, UK — — www.guardian.co.uk• • Published on: Sunday, 14 March 2010• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A new biography of MAE WEST penned by a British journalist has just been released. The Bay Area Reporter covered it. This is what they said. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Mae West was director/writer Billy Wilder's first choice for Norma Desmond in his darkly comic masterpiece about Hollywood stardom, Sunset Boulevard (1950). He knew her narcissism matched that of the fictional Desmond, which explains why she rejected it. "No one would believe me as a 'has-been.'" At the time, West was 57, hadn't made a movie in 7 years, hadn't been a major box-office force for 15, and her last Broadway play, Catherine Was Great (1944), had run for less than 200 performances without recouping its investment. Nonetheless, she was certain that she was the most sexually desirable female on the planet. In his fascinating Mae West: An Interview and Biography (Grand Cyrus Press, $11.95), Clive Hirschhorn captures one of Tinseltown's most improbable legends in all her contradictory splendor.• • They met when she was 75. Impressed by his English accent, she agreed to a Sunday Express interview in her Hollywood apartment. She wore a black full-length tea gown, a long blond wig, and enormous false eyelashes. He must have been starstruck, or else she had taped her skin underneath her wig and carefully controlled the lighting, because he claims her face had no wrinkles. (Candid shots of West taken when she was in her 60s disprove this.) During the interview, she asserted that what made her more popular than ever was her "glamour," and that only "pretty" Marilyn Monroe came close to rivaling her, but the others, like Jayne Mansfield, were "imposters" with "big chests, small voices, and no brains."• • The interview inspired Hirschhorn to write this brief, astute biography. She was born in Brooklyn and began performing as a child, pushed by her adoring mother. If West loved anyone more than herself, it was mother. He astutely corrects her own, unreliable memoirs, Goodness Had Nothing To Do with It, and shows how, despite the notoriety of her plays The Drag and Sex (which resulted in a highly publicized jail sentence), West had only one successful starring vehicle, which she wrote herself, Diamond Lil (1928). Her one-liners were famous, but critics found her repetitive. She was difficult to cast.• • In 1932, producer William Le Baron, who had worked with her in New York, and movie star George Raft, who had been one of her lovers, summoned her to Hollywood for a supporting role in Night After Night. She wrote her own dialogue, and as Raft said, "stole everything but the cameras." At 40, she was a movie star.• • Paramount Studios signed her and filmed Diamond Lil, calling it She Done Him Wrong. Cary Grant co-starred, and audiences and critics raved. She followed with I'm No Angel (1933), again with Grant, and the success of the two movies saved the studio from bankruptcy. She became the most quoted woman in America. "It's not the men in my life that counts, but the life in my men." "I used to be snow white, but I drifted." "There are no taxes on the wages of sin." "It's better to be looked over than overlooked." When asked if she believed in love at first sight, she replied, "Well, I dunno, but it sure saves a lotta time."• • She didn't cause censorship – the Production Code was already in existence – but became its most famous victim. The Catholic Legion of Decency cited her immorality. Censorship hurt all her subsequent films, as did her limited repertoire. By 1943, offers were scarce, but her impact had been indelible. She inspired countless drag queens, and some believed (incorrectly) that she was a man.• • Unlike Norma Desmond, however, West had one comeback left. In 1954, she launched a nightclub act surrounded by handsome musclemen. It opened in Las Vegas, and was a smash. She sang and quipped before adoring audiences. She toured the country, setting box-office records. Occasionally, she appeared on television, notably on the 1958 Academy Awards Show, singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Rock Hudson. Again, she created a sensation. It would be her last.• • Amazingly, the movies beckoned, but her return tarnished her legend. She wasn't directly responsible for the awful version of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge (1970), which gave her top billing over Raquel Welch. As Vidal noted, however, the film "embalmed" her nightclub act. No one else could be blamed for Sextette (1978), based on her play about a famous star whose sixth honeymoon is interrupted when the CIA asks her to prevent World War III by seducing an ex-husband, a Soviet VIP (Tony Curtis). Timothy Dalton was her child groom, and Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper, Raft, and Walter Pidgeon were among her admirers. She recycled old lines. "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?" West couldn't remember her dialogue, which was fed to her via a microphone hidden under her wig. She was barely ambulatory, but managed to complete this unprecedented vanity production. It had brief runs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is available — — for masochists — — on DVD. She died two years later, from complications following a stroke."• • Hirschhorn documents her many love affairs and one marriage, and her obsession with spiritualism. He writes sympathetically yet critically about her career and place in the Hollywood Pantheon. He concisely shows why, despite only 13 movies, only three or four good ones, she finished 15th in the American Film Institute's Greatest Female Legends of the 20th Century. West undoubtedly would have dismissed the 14 named ahead of her.— — Source: — —• • Article: "Disconnected from reality"• • BY: Tavo Amador | Book Reviewer• • Published by: Bay Area Reporter — — www.ebar.com• • Published on: 11 March 2010• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • •book cover • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Did you ever wish to peep into MAE WEST's bedroom? One painter did and his work is on view in San Francisco starting today until 27 March 2010.• • Baer Ridgeway Exhibition’s "Paper! Awesome!" is an unusual array of over 300 works by 100 artists — — unlimited by creativity and yet confined to a very portable canvas: an 8 inch by 11 inch sheet of paper.• • In this mini-museum setting, attendees will see D.L. Alvarez’s “Mae West,” an intriguing glimpse into a beautifully rendered bedroom enhanced by an enigmatic perspective. Alvarez has filling one third of his paper with solid black, cutting off the bed and leaving the audience's view incomplete — — as the onlooker's view of Mae West herself would have been incomplete. This sense of voyeurism is enhanced by the two holes cut into the paper, like two eyeholes through which you might secretly spy on the movie queen's nocturnal rituals and intimate actions within.• • Born in 1965, American artist D.L. Alvarez, who has shown across Europe and the USA, and whose works are displayed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, moved to Berlin from New York in 1999.• • The works on display during the next two weeks are not limited to pen or pencil. Attempting to experiment with media and confronting small-scale challenges, some of these artists have used acrylic, collage, watercolor, enamel, gouache, and even strong coffee in these 8 X 11 pieces.• • WHERE: On view through 27 March 2010 and FREE at Baer Ridgeway Exhibitions: 172 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; Tel: 415-777-1366.• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

MAE WEST signaled her desire for Raoul Walsh, an intrepid Irishman, to direct her forthcoming motion picture "Klondike Lou" — — via the syndicated gossip column of Louella Parsons during the summer of 1935.• • Born in the month of March, native New Yorker Raoul Walsh [11 March 1887 — 31 December 1980] was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. Born Albert Edward Walsh, he began as a stage actor in New York City in 1909, quickly progressing into film acting. In 1914, he became an assistant to D.W. Griffith and made his first full-length feature film "The Life of General Villa," followed by the critically-acclaimed "Regeneration" [1915], possibly the earliest gangster film.• • While on location for the film "In Old Arizona," the five-foot-eleven actor suffered a car accident in which he lost his right eye. He never acted again and wore an eye patch for the rest of his life.• • Raoul Walsh also directed "The Bowery" [1933], featuring Wallace Beery, George Raft, Fay Wray, and Pert Kelton; the movie recounts the story of Steve Brodie, the first man to (supposedly) jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and live to brag about it.• • The "rowdy touch" was Mae's aim in her upcoming project and she had seen a quality she liked in Walsh's "The Cock-Eyed World" and "What Price Glory?" — — the vehicle that made Victor McLaglen a bold-faced name, a rough hewn beaut Mae was eyeing up for the role of her leading man as she pursued her Klondike quest.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Heritage Auction Galleries, based in Dallas, has an original movie poster showing a close-up of MAE WEST — — which will be offered for sale on March 19 — 20, 2010 during their Signature® Movie Poster Auction. Top level collectors are already making inquiries.• • Lot 85537 She Done Him Wrong (Paramount, 1933). One Sheet (27" X 41") Style A.• • Heritage penned this paragraph: Although directed by the actor-turned-director Lowell Sherman, this bawdy pre-Code classic is all Mae West. Based on the play West wrote for herself, Diamond Lil, this is her first feature film and arguably her best. As the saloon singer Lady Lu, West's performances are mesmerizing to watch as she swings and sways (as only West can) to numbers such as: "Frankie and Johnny," and "I Like a Man Who Takes His Time." Dressed to kill in Edith Head costumes, Lu is unknowingly caught in a web of illegal doings at the saloon, and sets her sights on missionary Captain Cummings (Cary Grant) who is really an undercover agent. The film is full of wit and innuendo, and was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.• • Heritage penned this description: This amazing stone litho one sheet has been professionally restored to address the very minor issues of slight crossfold separations, corner pinholes, a small tear in the top left corner, and two in the right side of the red field. There is some slight touch-up at a surface abrasion in the lower right white field. One of the most beautiful and colorful stone litho posters we have seen, this item will be one hotly contested prize for our bidders. Very Fine+ on Linen.• • Heritage Auctions calls itself the world’s third largest auction house, with more than 500,000 registered online bidder members. Details: 800-872-6467.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

In the name of Oscar, two jolly parties took place — — and MAE WEST graced each event with her celebrity and panache. The Olympic Peninsula in Washington is a superb place filled with good-hearted individuals. Two galas offered those on the North Olympic Peninsula a chance to don their finery, walk the red carpet, and watch the Academy Awards on Sunday night, 7 March 2010 while raising funds for worthy local causes.• • It was the second annual "Hollywood Nights" salute taking place at Port Angeles, for which nearly 300 merry-makers bought a ticket, tripling the overall take from last year's festivities, said Olympic Medical Center Foundation Executive Director Bruce Skinner, whose institution benefited. Attendees were gaily garbed in gowns and formal attire or as Hollywood notables such as Mae West, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and others.• • And at the Oscars Red Carpet party held at the American Legion Hall in Port Townsend, Washington, Mae West was busy on the Reception Line greeting guests and (later on) posing with the golden statuette. The Port Townsend event raised a nice sum on behalf of the Port Townsend Film Festival, thanks to the generosity and goodwill of over 125 ticket-holders and movie buffs.• • PHOTO: Mae West, aka Katherine Jensen, a most genial actress with the Key City Players, and Jeanette Force, executive director of the Port Townsend Film Festival, greet arriving guests at the Oscars Red Carpet party at the American Legion Hall in Port Townsend, Washington.• • Photo by Steve Mullensky, courtesy of The Peninsula Daily News — — www.peninsuladailynews.com• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: • • Mae West • •aka Katherine Jensen • •• • Feed — —http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYCMae West.